Help with HDD

[WinKevin1]

Hi, I'm WinKevin1, new user in the forums. I got this problem:

 

I bought a Sony Vaio S 15" 2012, and it was great when I bought it. But these 2 years of installing software, downloading plugins, games, etc. had made it way slower. Seeing Task Mananger, I saw that when it was laggy all specs were ok, exept HDD, so I tought. "I can have a external hdd of 2TB and then copy my actual drive (545 GB occupied) and then turn back to fabric specs". I waited a couple of days and when the drive came in, I copied my disc drive, and it took like 5 hours, and when it was at 100 gb copied, it said that there was an error, and it couldn't finish. I visited many forums, and i saw that i need an special software.

 

Can you please recommend me a software capable of:

 

1. Copying the whole HDD of my laptop
2. Leave the remaining space intact
3. All files, software, games, OS, etc. copied
4. Easy for a total Noob to use
5. Compatible with Windows 8.1 Pro x64

 

Thank you

 

P.S. I have too many files in too many different locations, so thats why i cant just drag 'em up. Also, my english is not that good, so please forgive me for any mistake. 

[d3sl91]

You will not be able to copy any files that are in use, which is probably the error you got if you are trying to copy the OS. Also, just so you know, you wont be able to run most programs/games or use the OS off of the USB drive. 

 

So, you need a program that will copy before windows boots:

 

Acronis (not free)

 

Acronis WD edition (free if a drive is a WD) http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119

 

EasUS http://www.partition-tool.com/download.htm

 

Clonezilla.

 

Any of those should work

[WinKevin1]

So, you need a program that will copy before windows boots:

 

 

Hi, exactly what do you mean with "before windows boots", do i have to install it on the ext.HDD or what?

[Orthodoctus]

You will not be able to copy any files that are in use, which is probably the error you got if you are trying to copy the OS. Also, just so you know, you wont be able to run most programs/games or use the OS off of the USB drive. 

 

So, you need a program that will copy before windows boots:

 

Acronis (not free)

 

Acronis WD edition (free if a drive is a WD) http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119

 

EasUS http://www.partition-tool.com/download.htm

 

Clonezilla.

 

Any of those should work

Not necessarily before the system boots. Using Shadow Copy the files in use can be copied.

I used Macrium Reflect and it copied my whole drive without issues, but as d3sl91 said, you need to replace the laptop's HDD with another HDD of the same size. You can't run Windows off of an external drive (unless it's connected to an eSATA port).